Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11

Wy 4islAttui 1875, ~ AlAN -NSNA't4-I
As / write, one of the "aunties' who
aie bOrr, not made, baby ;enceIs, sits
near with delicate grsnd-Hiece on her
lap. She IS lulling her to sleep, against
her will aud knowledge, rot by singing,
or even by the semi-rbythmic Groom nat
ural 20 the coed nurse, but by tslSing to
the child. The lille one does not COM
prehend one syllable OF the low-yoiced
mOnoloSue that has 10 more sense CT Sc
qEeGce than
The noise of a hidden broo.
In the afy month Of June,
but it is in full accord with tone aGd
spirit. The 0dSy, somewhat ahre2th
Jenny Wren who built in the wistaria
outside Of my window last spring talked
70 her young il the same Eey; slipped as
dettly from one lsgato note TO the text,
lest the vibration Of pause might smile
rudely on the hearing of her Ut sting.
To lar tn tympanum of cur baby is to
give actual pain. One fragile girl ten
rs0nihs cid, sleeping sweefly in her
mothers arms on the night Of July 3,
swoRe 81 the report of giant" fire
cracker in the street to die in commissions
an hour later. Another, younger bat
more robust, was thrown into violent
spasms by The "harmless fun" Of Young
uncle who C!apped his hands close TO her
ear. There is something more than Gus
SilesS" in the effort of the mother TO
keep the house quiet when baby Is not
well; wisdom in the Injunction not to
awaken him by sudden noise. His eX-
IRENE susceptibility TO sound is not mere
ly physical. He learns at an incredibly
early age to distinguish between tart
SnG gentle torres. Before he can speak,
his heart is an rolian Tyre to the airs that
breathe or roar through the nursery.
nave seen mothers show eff the sensitive
ness of Infants by addressing them with
feigned sharpness. The wide, startled
eyes, the trembling lip "rut up" as only
grieved babies do, the breast heQyiug with
the sob that means heart break as surely
as could the moIher's mean if her child
lay deed in her sight, were certainly e
curious spectacle, WneE one reflected
whose hand had dealt the blow, snd why.
Other children soon grow callouS TO
sternness Of speech or lock through fre-
qu=nt practice Of the same upon them.
Who does not know tyGd.er5 who can
andy lie one word to auCther, yet laugh
ct uHd initiate with mOukeyIsl fidelity the
viragoish lntuna.icn~ of their cUStOCians?
We need in our nurseries such 4 men
to- s. the orator had in the slave con
ces.tj behind The rustrum with pitch
pipe 10 sound me recall to the register
best adapted to his voice when he became
marsh or shrill III defamation. The OLD
fashion Of speaking in & high key and
luuCly to the baby may GccOunJ for more
l1an we admit in the formation Of thu
voices Of cur adults. 4 popular authors
mention, in the description OF COntineE-
tsI ball, of "sWeet-fdced, shrill-voiCed
American girls rasp5 the rational
vanity the more roughly because
EDGED with truth The habit comes
with the child from the nursery,
whether the mother or the nurse be the
teacher. We fall into the tick Of raising
our toner with him as most people speak
to a foreigner as if he were deaf. We
pound language into Blby's years. Let
him who doubts it recall how readily he
traces the progress of the household pet
from room TO room by the din his coming
awakens. BY the time the exquisite
membranes which are the outer sentinels
of the brain cease to culver achingly uE-
der the beats of sound, he has caught the
timbre Of his educators and is repre-
blted as nuisance, or tolerated be
cause "aiI children are noisy"
The mother Of John and Charles YVES
ley and Il seventeen other children, in an
extraordinary letter on her methods Of
family government, says: "When turned
year old ldGd some before they were
taught to cry softly, Gnd inst most odiOUs
TniSL nj 70 Ty- . .bi = 10
heard in the house, but the family usual
ly lived in as much quietness as If there
rad not been child among them" This,
she states in so many words, wss accom-
plished by the fear Ct the rod" The in
fueGce Of example and loving precept, IS
much more potent than correction as the
sun than the WHO'D, would tone down our
yoHngliDg until "boisterOGs" ceased to
be synonym fer the name given him in
baptism.
In this reform you, the mother, mus!
take the lead; must hold the pitch-pipe
for yourself and others. ACCustom your
self always 10 speak TO the baby more
softly, and not more loudly than to the
rest of the family. As your face makes
his sunshine and clouds, let Jour voice
a;tuGe his spirit to gentle moods, calm
him when perturbed, implant just ideas
OF refined speech.
"Your voice reminds me of my
mothers, as she used to sing 10 me at
twilight, twenty-five years ago." said s
young man to prima donna. People
smiled at the gsucherle, but the canta-
trice put out her hand, impulsiyely
1T. ank you for the pre:tiest compliment
| ever had"
Sing to your children, if you can turn 8
tune. 1t is worth your while 10 cultivate
your voice now, if you never did before.
Nowhere else-perhaps not even in
Heaven-Will you have such loving and
generous audience as in the nursery.
A boy three years old had to undergo q
painful operation. 1t was not thought
safe to give him an anRsthetic, and as he
was a manly, sensible little fellow, the
physician explained this to him, exhorting
MIN to "bear the pain bravely, like q
soldier" ''If mamma will sing! was
the answer, as the small fingers fastened
upon hers. With the qukity of courage
pessimists fancy went out of the world
with martyrs Of old, the mother sat by the
sufferer while knife AID needle did their
work-the psllid face and the clutch OF
the tiny hand told how cruelly-and sang
softly, sweetly, clearly, the songs her boy
loved best, the iullabies that had put the
well, happy baby to sleep times without
number.
Another picture, and Ike the above
taken from life, rises before ne. pale
mother, holding her cight-mOnth old girl
in her arms for two days ard two nights,
White brain fever ard margsmus sspDed
49,,
hour, songs merry and plaintive, hymns
of cheer and psalms Of comfort, chants,
nursery rhymes, plantation melodies
as memory mechanically supplied them,
until endurance became miracle. Fol-
only while she sang did the CONFUSED
frame lie quiet, the wild eyes close in
sleep, the poor head cease to roll from
side to side. "The most wonderful thing
I ever saw!" said the family physician
atterward. at was genuine mesmerc
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